When an Experiment Goes Wrong
by 221TARDISstreet
Summary: When one of his tests go wrong, Sherlock is turned to a seven year old boy. Mycroft makes John sign the papers that entitle him as Sherlock's legal guardian, and is forced to send him back to school, where he meets Zephyr, a bouncy and somewhat annoying boy, who has connections to more evil than one might think. Rated K for abuse and such things.
1. Cheerio's

I got the inspiration for this fan fic from: gilgameshforeternity

John readied Sherlock's lunch as the discrunteled and angry boy prepared himself for the first day of school, which he has ensured John would be agonizing...about twelve times.

"I honestly don't understand why I have to go to school, I'm already far more advanced than all the other children my age!" he sat with his elbows on the table, head in his small hands, face twisted with frustration and anger.

" Well," john sighed " it's not my fault you...you... what did you do to yourself, exactly?" the prosess of how Sherlock had been a thirty seven year old man one moment, and a seven year old the next still left him perplexed.

"I was attempting to test the theory of time and space fluxuation, and the possibility of time travel." the explanation sounded strange in a child's voice, not that Sherlock could get past the word 'Fluxuation" without front teeth. John watched as Sherlock picked up a spoon full of Cheerio's and dumped it into his mouth, promptly spitting them out again.

"you expect me to eat this?" he pushed the bowl back crossing his arms across his chest.

"Yes, I do. Just eat it and I'll get something better at the store when you are at school. Do you remember the fake mane we agreed on? You have been registered under it." Sherlock took another spoon full of the cereal, nodding and brushing a few stray curls from his eyes.

" Henri Watson." he said plainly, obviously still upset that Mycroft had made John sign the guardian papers. John had custody of Sherlock. _"this," _he thought while he watched Sherlock eat _" I will never get used to. I've got legal custody of Sherlock Holmes" _Sherlock finished his cereal and stomped into the lounge where a black shoulder bag rested in his chair.

" I'm just letting you know while your in Doctor Land, mi going to be in kiddie hell. Enjoy!" Sherlock slammed the door to the flat and walked down the stairs to the door of 221b. He knew exactly when the bus would be coming to pick him up, the stop was on the corner of the street. There was a red headed boy there when he arrived.

" Hi!" the boy practically screamed and Sherlock approached "I'm Zephyr!who are you? I'm going into the first grade." the boy stuck a sticky hand out to Sherlock, who merely looked at it.

"I'm Sh-Henri, Henri Watson." the boy put his hand down and started babbling on about his summer holiday, and how he had ridden the fastest rollarcaoster in the world. The child was obviously ADD or ADHD given he had the attention span of a squirrel.

" hey! Hey! Boy! Henri! Hey!" he was in sherlcok's face as he was trying to read a news paper that he had founf in the trash bin next to the stop.

" Would you mind NOT TALKING? I'm trying to read and your insufferable stupidity is making it hard for me to even hear my own thoughts." after he said it, he regretted it, the boy's smile faltered, and he sniffed, looking down at his shoes. By then the bus had come and within moments Sherlock found himself in the back of the bus, his hands over his ears, trying to block out the infernal noise of the mindless children he was supposed to recognizing as his equals.


	2. Ten Divided by Two

"Henri!" Sherlock jumped at the teacher stared at him pointedly. All the other children were staring at him over their class reading books, while he had fallen asleep on his science book.

"what seems to be going on here? Your first day and class and you try and sleep it away? Do you think your smarter than the rest of us?" Sherlock mouth twitched into a little smile, his eyes gleaming triumphantly he answers the teacher with all the dignity a seven year old has to offer.

"I certainly do." he said quite plainly, staring dead into the teacher's eyes until she looked away.

"Well, if you are so clever, and you slept through Maths Lesson" she pointed at a long division problem on the white board. "go and solve that." Sherlock stood fluently, smoothing his red button up shirt and snatching the green dry erase marker from his teachers hand. He had solved the problem ages before the teacher had pointed it out, but remembering what John had said about not showing off, he went through the steps of the equation instead of just writing the answer.

"Ten divided by two is five, see I told you I was clever." he stood in front of the class, almost daring them to say otherwise. Zephyr, the boy he had been mean to this morning clapped and whooped.

"ya! Go Henri!" Sherlock nodded at the boy and went and sat down at his seat. Smiling triumphantly.

The lunch bell rang, and Sherlock went to his shoulder bag to get his brown bag like the rest of the children before lining up to enter the lunch hall. Sherlock wasn't all that hungry, and John had packed him a large amount of food, probably figuring he would do more than sleep the whole day. Sherlock entered the lunch hall, and sat at the furthest table to the back left corner, by a mural of fruits and vegetables dancing. The boy sat alone, happy to have a space to himself, and opened an encyclopedia. He had only gotten to the letter "D" when a breeze of a boy came around his left side and sat on his right, clutching a brown bag tightly to his chest.

" Hi, Henry" the red headed, freckle faced boy said. Sherlock looked up to see Zephyr, sitting next to him, he could almost taste the tang of hyperactivity that rolled of the kid. With a sigh, Sherlock closed the book, and faced Zephyr.

"Hello Zephyr." he said flatly and the boy seemed to exhale a great sigh of relief.

" Why are you sitting all alone? Don't you have friends? Or are you like me? People don't like me, they say I talk too much and they don't want to be my friend." The boy's bright green eyes dimmed a bit with sadness.

" No, I don't have friends. People don't like me either." with only a second of hesitation he adds " Well, accept for John. John is my friend." Zephyr's face took on a look of anxiety.

" I will be your friend. Will you be my friend?" the hope in his eyes fill Sherlock with an unpleasant urge to hug him, but he didn't, he shook his head curtly and tried to smile a bit.

" you don't want to be my-" he was cut off by a whimper from Zephyr and a large boy approaching their table. He had to be at least in the eight grade, He was built large and stalky with strong looking hands and dark mean eyes. He snatched Zephyr's lunch bag from him and emptied the only contents into his hand. A half a sandwich fell on the floor, and zephyr look at it longingly.

" Look's like Spaz has got himself a freaky little friend!" the boy hissed laughing meanly." did your mummy have to sell her bed to make you that sandwich, Spaz?" Cypher's eyes filled with tears, but he didn't blink.

" Will, go away. I haven't done anything to you." Sherlock sat, thinking of all the food in his bag, and how he wasn't going to eat it.

" Come on, Cypher." he said taking the boy by the sleeve " we con go eat somewhere else and lot this stupid ape take the third grade for the fifth time." Sherlock wasn't very sure how he had gotten there, but seconds later he was on the floor, his nose spurting blood like a running tap. Will kept hitting him while Cypher. jumped on the boy's back and began hitting him atop the head. A sharp blow the his left eye made him cry out in pain. He was then well aware of a loud ringing in his ears. It was a whistle. Two teachers pulled Will off Sherlock, who was laying on the floor, crying. All he wanted was John. He wanted a hug from John. He wanted John right then to tell him he was going to be okay. He wanted John to put a plaster on his knee and tell him he was a brave boy for letting him clean it first. He was not aware, however he was saying this all out loud.

"I w-w-want J-J-JOHN!" he sobbed loudly as the pain in his face intensified and his new red shirt was soaked in even more red blood. A teacher scooped him up and carried him to the infirmary, Cypher. followed.

" I'm sorry will beat you up so bad." Cypher. said, as Sherlock sat on the edge on the infirmary bed, hiccuping and sniveling and swinging his bruised legs.

"It's," sniff "It's quite alright" he sniffed again. Wondering when John would get there.

" It's okay if you don't want to be my friend now, I wont be mad." Cypher. say in a chair while the nurse tends to his cuts.

" Why would I not be your friend? You tried, unsuccessfully, but you tried to help me. I owe you friendship in return don't I?" a large, beaming smile full of warmth filled Zephyrs full face just as John rushed in through the infirmary door.

" John!" he souted and jumped off the bed into his arms. Hugging him tightly he started to sob again, burying his face into his shoulder. John sat in the chair next to Cypher. and situated a snotty, bloody sniffling Sherlock on his lap. Rubbing his scrawny shoulder he asks.

" how did you get into a fight on the first day of school?" John took a packet of tissues from his pocket and handed then to Sherlock, who's nose started to bleed again.

" He was trying to help me!" Zephyr piped up, scratching at the plaster on his left cheek. " Will took my lunch and was being really mean, she Henri called him a stupid ape!" the boy was bouncing up and down in his seat from the excitement of the story.

"Sh- Henri, you know its not polite to call people names." John said sternly, but Sherlock just laid his head on his shoulder and wrapped his skinny arms around his neck.

" Sir, I'm going to need you to fill out this paper work." The nurse handed him a thick packet of yes or no questions that took ages to fill out. By the time he had finished, Sherlock had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and the red head boy next to him was leaning into his arms, snoring away.

" Umm...Miss?" he called to the nurse, who looked around the corner and chuckled to herself.

" Well isn't that just the dearest thing?" she lifted the red head boy and set him on the bed and offered her arms out for Sherlock.

"I'll take him so you can be off." she said, the woman was a warm, grandmotherly type who, quite frankly John want to hug.

" Um, no thanks. I think I'll take him home, hes pretty worn out." the nurse smiled and brushed a few curls from Sherlock's face gingerly avoiding the bruises.

"okay dear, don't let him sleep to long in case of-"

"concussion, I know I'm a doctor" the woman nodded and waved him out. John carried Sherlock down to the main street where he flagged down a taxi. She set Sherlock's limp body in the seat, clicking him in tightly before whispering to the cabby.

"221b Baker Street, please."


	3. The Blue Monkey

Do excuse ant terrible mistakes, my processor is acting up.

As soon as John had gotten Sherlock home, he set him on the couch and covered him with a blanket. His first day of school had been hell, but he had managed to make a friend. About twenty minutes passed, then John decided that Sherlock need to wake up or he wouldn't sleep tonight at his bed time.

"Sherlock, come on wake up." he saw Sherlock's shoulder rise and fall, then Sherlock whimpered that his face hurt. John had forgotten that could have been a problem, so he went to the freezer and pulled out some frozen peas.

"here, put this on you face." Sherlock obeyed, wincing as the peas settled around his cheek.

"do I have to go to school tomorrow?" he sounded sad, and John honestly concerted pulling him out for good, but he thought against it, he couldn't leave Sherlock alone in the flat for eight hours.

"yes, I'm sorry." Sherlock sighed and hugged himself, John figured he would need a stuffed animal of a sort. He read in college once that a child needs something like a stuffed animal or a favorite toy to turn to when they felt a parent figure would be no condolence.

" How about we go to the toy store and pick out something new?" John figured this would cheer him up.

"really?" he said, as if John was playing some crazy joke on him.

"Of course!" Sherlock hugged him round the middle and ran to get a new shirt. This was going to be interesting.

When they arrived at the toy store, Sherlock looked annoyed about how many loud children were running about.

"I wont be able to make a suitable choice with all this noise!" he explains, having no other way to express his frustration seeing as his face look like it had been beaten with a meat tenderizer.

"well how about we start down here? The Lego section." John figured something stimulating would be exactly what Sherlock would want. Instead, Sherlock dragged John to the largest part of the store. Stuffed Toys. Sherlock's eyes widened as he looked through hundreds of horses, bears, television charterers, pillows- anything imaginable that was stuffed. He finally stopped at a soft, blue monkey. Its eyes were large and purple and it's belly was yellow. The toy was even lavender scented to soothe him into sleep. John knew the moment Sherlock picked it it that he really wanted the thing.

"do you like that one?" he said, a ghost of smile on his face. Sherlock walked up to him, holding tightly to the monkey.

"John?" he said in a tiny voice "do you member the boy who you sat next to in the infirmary?" The freckled face boy that had fallen asleep on his arm, he remembered.

"yes, I do." john replied wondering where this was going.

"his family doesn't have that much money. I don't think he has too many toys. Can we get him one too?" The question was unexpected, but the fact that Sherlock had even thought of the boy mad him smile as he hoisted him up into his arms.

"you know what?"

"what?"

"I don't think that would be a problem." Sherlock smiled and squirmed out of John's grip, excited to pick a toy for his new buddy.

After almost twenty minutes, Sherlock had settled on a fluffy red race car that made engine noises when you hugged it.

"THIS ONE!" he had shouted when he found it, jumping into the air in triumph.

"Okay, keep you voice down." he took Sherlock by the hand and led him the register. The woman took one look at Sherlock's face, and then she looked at John, and the again at Sherlock's face. It then clicked in his head what the woman was thinking, but Sherlock had beaten him to it.

"there was a stupid ape at school today. I told him so and he hit me." he frowned, and the woman's facial features relaxed.

"well try not to get in his way again, eh?" she joked as John handed her the money for the two toys. She handed Sherlock the monkey and he tucked it tightly under his arm.

_I am never going to get that thing away from him._ He thought at he once again took Sherlock hand, guiding him back down the street a few blocks and into the door of 221b.

"alright, Sherlock we are going to have dinner, then you need a bath. After that its bed time." Jot John was not sorry to admit he was looking forward to bed time.

"NO!" Sherlock said in defiance. He stomped his foot and tightened his grip on his monkey. John was taken aback, everything had gone somewhat smoothly until this point.

"why?" John said dryly, not up for a fight with Sherlock, even as seven years old he could still beat John in an argument hands down.

"why not?" Sherlock plopped himself in his chair and drew his knees up to his chin.

"I'm not hungry." well that was quite simple. He thought that Sherlock was going to be a bedtime fighter, but the kid didn't seen to mind an early bedtime.

One bath and three bedtime stories later, Sherlock was fast asleep, clinging on to that lavender monkey like it was a life line, an it might be, in some ways. John figures the monkey will give Sherlock and inward sense of protection, well he read it on the back of the tag he had removed from the thing's ear. With Sherlock in bed, his sodden curls dampening the pillow, john could sit back and think about the day. It had been a busy one. Fourteen patients and a call from the school informing him that Sherlock had been a target of a harassment along with another boy. He couldn't say he didn't expect it, knowing Sherlock he had probably done something to to egg the boy on, but he still didn't deserve this. By time he went to bed he could hear a light rain falling outside, the sound relaxed him into his exhaustion, and he quickly dropped off into sleep.

The sound of his bedroom door creaking woke him some time later, and he rolled over to see Sherlock, positively shaking with fear.

"John, i-it's storming" only after the little boy said it a loud crack of thunder shook the whole flat. The sound frightened Sherlock, who was then under the bed, clutching the blue monkey tightly to his chest.

"Sherlock, stay out from under there, come on up here." John watched as a little hand placed the blue monkey on top of the sheets. Now that he was on the bed, John could feel him shaking.

"Sherlock, your-" Sherlock looked up at him then, his little greyish eyes full of fear and assumption of what hes going to say.

"yes, I know I'm too smart, as some people say, to be afraid of thunderstorms." he slid himself under the covers so fluently, John wasn't all that sure it had happened. "but the noise still scares me, the lightning scares me, and I think there is a monster in my closet!" he explained scooting closed to John and held on to that monkey for dear life.

"you know you can't take the to school, right" John whispered, stroking the monkey's fur.

"Please don't remind me." came his shaken reply.

"all right, try to get some rest." Sherlock settled himself in the blankets and sighed. He has just started to doze off when an unimaginably loud roll of thunder made the bones in Johns body shake, Sherlock yelled and was clinging onto john's arm, rather tightly. John didn't really wake up, he knew the thunder had been loud but he was so tired it was easy to go back to sleep. Eventually, he felt Sherlock's grip loosen, then leave his arm completely.

John had woke up the next morning to see Sherlock. At the foot of the bed, curled up into a little ball snuggling his monkey.

"wha-how?" he whispered to himself as he forced himself from the warmth of his sheets to get his shower clothes. Sherlock must be one of those weird sleepers, he chuckled to himself and got the in shower. Not long after John had left, Sherlock woke up and rubbed his eyes. The secondary alarm on john's watch told him it was six o' clock and he had an hour to get ready for school. He sat up and yawned and then cried out in pain. He hopped off the bed and went to the dresser mirror. His face scared him. His left eye was a deep, deep purple blue and the hand print on his right cheek had lines of broken blood vessels around it. He was touching his face gingerly in the mirror when John walked in and did a double take.

"oh my," he said, walking over to Sherlock and tipping chin up so he could examine the bruises. "you look terrible, Sherlock." Sherlock scoffed and started to the door to get his own clothes for his shower.

"really? You don't say," his voice was deeply tired, and the pale blue rings under his eyes didn't help the effect of the bruises on his face. John figured Sherlock had only slept about two hours last night. He had been terrified.

When Sherlock came down the hall, John was making his lunch.

"John?" he said, throwing himself into a chair. "Will you make me two sandwiches?" John looked up, not too sure what this was about.

" Oh, yes. Were you still hungry yesterday?" Sherlock laughed in his head, he hadn't eaten at all yesterday.  
"yes." he replied and held his hands out to the plate of Pop-Tarts John had warmed for him.

" hope you like these, there are loads of different kinds so when I go shopping again ill take you with me." John buised himself with the sandwiches while Sherlock devoured the pastries, finished and went to his room. He came back with a rather bulky shoulder bag and John stopped him from leaving the flat.

"what?" he said innocently, not fooling John at all. He held his hand out and Sherlock sighed, unzipping the bag and handed the stuffed monkey to John.

" I told you, you can't take it to school. Here." he handed Sherlock his lunch bag as he walked through the door.

"have a nice day, Sherlock." John called after him.

Sherlock spotted Zephyr walking down Baker Street a few yards up, and shouted for him the wait up. When the boy turned around, Sherlock was taken aback. His lip was puffy and he had a black eye similar to his. _Funny._ Sherlock thought,_ I don't remember Will getting any punches in on Zephyr..._ His mind trailed off as he reached his new friend.

"good morning" Sherlock said not know how else to start the conversation.

" yeah" Zephyr said looking down at his shoes. _Something drastic has happened since the last time I saw him. His posture is one of defeat, not the way he was holding him-self yesterday._ Sherlock though back to the way Zephyr looked as if he was ready to rule the whole world, compared to now, as he looked like he was being crushed by it.

" I've got two sandwiches today." Sherlock said happily.

"I asked John, you can have one." this seemed to cheer him up, as the two walked to the corner together, chatting happily.


	4. A Burden

There wasn't much talking that day at the bus stop. Sherlock was both happy and sad about that.

" Zephyr, did something happen to you when you got home from school yesterday?" Zephyr looked as if Sherlock had pulled him from a whole other world.

"what?" he said, quietly his mouth hanging open as if he was surprised.

" what happened when you got home from school yesterday?" a look of alarm crossed Zephyr's face and he looked at a large tour bus passing by.

" nuthin'" he said. The short answers were starting to annoy Sherlock now.

" then why do you have that bruise on your face?" he said, somewhat meanly. Zephyr looked at him as if he was stupid.

" Will must have hit you harder than we thought..." The boy was such a good liar Sherlock almost believed him, he was so...so...so oddly convincing.

" don't lie to me, Zephyr...don't talk to me either. I'm cross with you." he turned his back, pretending not the hear the suppressed whine that escaped Zephyr's lips.

Sherlock didn't sit with zephyr on the bus, or at lunch. It was recess when zephyr had found him in his hiding spot under the wooden foundation of the plastic slide. The boy was breathing hard, and his face was beet red.

"was Will chasing you?" Sherlock surfaced from his thoughts about his blue monkey and the boy nodded.

" I'm usually in my spot during recess, but I was looking for you." Zephyr scooted next to him.

" I'm sorry I lied to you at the bus stop. I know liying is not what friends do to eatch other." he paused and took a deep breath.

" I...I'll tell you what happened if you come with me to my spot. I don't like it here, it smells." Sherlock laughed and crawled from under the slide, and ran after Zephyr, holding a paper bag that contained two juice boxes and two sandwiches and two helpings of carrots in separate bags. John knew. _BRILLIANT!_ Sherlock thought as he followed Zephyr through a maze of play equipment until they reach a large pine tree. Zephyr climbed the tree that was probably about fifteen feet tall, and had branches from the bottom to the top that looked like a step ladder. They climbed until they reached a rather long, thick branch near the top of the tree. Zephyr maneuvered himself to the middle at a break in the twigs.

" you can see the whole playground from here." Zephyr said as a soft breeze ruffled his hair. Sherlock situated himself next to Zephyr and opened his bag. Handing him the sandwich, carrots and juice.

" Wow! You only said you had a sandwich!" Sherlock looked at him thoughtfully.

" about that, I think John knows I asked for another sandwich for you. Speaking of which," Sherlock pulled his small shoulder bag to his front. From it, he took out the plush red car. Zephyr's eyes could have replaced the sun.

"Whoa! That's so cool Henri! Can I hold it? What's its name?" Sherlock handed the boy the stuffed toy and grinned.

" I don't know, you tell me." Zephyrs face clouded in thought for only a moment before he whispered in a shocked breath.

" you mean, it's for _me_?" Sherlock nodded and nibbled a bit of carrot.

" I got a blue monkey for me, John wouldn't let me take him with me though." at the though, Sherlock missed his monkey greatly. He hugged himself and smiles.

" It's blue, with long soft fur, and it's yellow on it's tummy. It smell nice too, but it makes me sleepy." Zephyr was stroking the car listening intently. He set in in Sherlock lap so he could eat his lunch.

" I guess you want to know what happened, don't you." The sun had faded and night had fallen on Zephyrs face, he started to get upset.

" go on, just tell me. I won't talk until the end." Sherlock took the empty sandwich bag from zephyrs hands and put it in his paper bag. Handing Zephyr a juice box, Sherlock moved a stray lock of thick curly hair out of his face, wincing when he accidentally touched a bruise.

" Well, I woke up in the infirmary. The nurse gave me some crackers and water and said my mother said I could go home on the one o' clock bus. When I got there, she was waiting for me. She asked me what I had done to Will for him to beat me up, and I said nothing. She smacked me around the head and told me not to lie and to go to my room. I went to sleep after that. But then this morning when dad got home, he was drunk. Mum told him I had been in a fight. He yelled at me and told me I was a good for nothing waste of money, and then," Zephyr took a faltering breath and raised his shirt to show Sherlock red, bruising slash marks all over his torso and upper body. " dad whacked me with the belt and said;this is what a real fight is like you ugly twit, come on throw a punch at me I dare you, and then I can't remember anymore." tears were running down Zephyr's face as he devoured his bag of carrots. Sherlock handed him his sandwich,

" no, not at all... I only want my juice box." and with that, zephyr finished the second sandwich within minutes.

"Tell me," Sherlock said, swinging his legs and sipping on his juice box. "when did you eat last, excluding the infirmary." he handed Zephyr the car and he hugged it tightly, causing it to make the engine noises.

" wow! Cool!" he had just lost him. "zephyr? When did you eat last?" it seemed to Sherlock he was avoiding the question.

"Sunday night." he finally said after a few moments. This seemed to be the last straw for Sherlock.

" okay, finish your juice and put your rubbish in here." Zephyr looked at him like he was crazy.

" why? We still have a half hour of recess left!" Sherlock started to descend the tree branches.

"because, we are going to see John."

* * *

**Hey guys! two chapters in one night! how do you like that? I did it because i may not get a post in on saturday, so i figured id put this up now. And i know there are grammar issues, i'm working on them!**

**A Quote to Live By**

**" In 900 years of time and space, I have never met anyone who wasn't important." - The Doctor**


	5. The Phone Booth

Zephyr's spot was by the back fence of the campus, so no one noticed when two young boys went behind the tall shrubs the kept the fence from view.  
"are you sure about this Henri?" Zephyr was tugging at the tie of his school uniform, which had been issued the day before.

"Of course I am!" Sherlock replied, exasperated. "John's a doctor, he works at a clinic!" Sherlock put his coat over the top of the fence and started to climb, protecting himself from the uneven tips.

"Come on Zephyr!" he said from the other side, as zephyr hesitated, then hoped the fence. Sherlock jumped up and grabbed his long oat and stuffed it in his bag.

" Zephyr, you have to wear you jumper." Sherlock said, tugging at a sleeve that had been tied loosely around zephyr's waist.

"what?" he said, as if he had been tuning Sherlock out, "you shirt had the school crest on it, if people see it they will wonder! Now put it on and lets go!" once Zypher had put the jumper on, Sherlock took hold of his sleeve and was leading him down the busy street the school was situated on.

"So, where does your dad work?" Zypher said casually, pulling his sleeve out of Sherlock's grasp so he could walk next to him.

"he's not my dad," Sherlock muttered, his face had gone pale, well as pale as it could get, and his blood ran cold.

"oh." Zypher said, something on his friends face told him to leave it at that.

"so where are we going?" Zephyr stopped to tie his shoes.

"John's clinic is some where around Scotland Yard." Zypher stood up, looking at him wide eyed.

"that's all the way across town!" he said loudly, causing a few passing people stare.

"shh!" Sherlock hissed, and began to walk again.

"we can make it, its going to be fine." he really wasn't sure who he was reassuring, himself or zephyr. He wished for his blue monkey as they walked side by side down the busy side walk.

Almost four hours had passed since the two had started walking, and the sky started to get dark with evening rain clouds covering the sunset. A chilly wind had began to whisk it's way around Sherlock and Zephyr.

" are we almost there?" Zephyr asked for almost the third time. Sherlock was flat out scared. He didn't want to admit it, but he was lost. London was such a big place for a little boy, and it was getting dark fast. It was already dark enough for sherlock to see the reflection of city lights in Zephyr's eyes.

" I don't know ummm..." trailed off getting distracted by the smell of a sweet nut vender. He was brought back to reality when a large, cold drop of water plopped on his cheek.

" I think its going to rain." Zephyr said, pulling the collar of his shirt up against his neck.

" yes, its getting cold and dark too...we should be there any time now." Zephyr nodded, and kept walking. It wasn't long before the rain intensified, soaking them to the bone with freezing cold water.

"Henri," Zephyr said, stuttering because his body was shivering." lets go over there." he pointed to a payphone box.

" okay, brilliant." Sherlock and Zypher trudged over to the box, and shut it. Sherlock locked them inside by jamming a pair of scissors into a hinge of the door. There wasn't that much space in the payphone booth, but it was just enough for them to stretch their legs out fully and face eatch  
other.

"I'm sorry I got us lost. And wet. And hungry. And cold." Sherlock said sadly. He had let his friend down.

" It's okay, I got you beat up, didn't I?"Zypher smiled and pulled off his soggy jumper.

" Lot of good this will do me now, huh?" Sherlock smirked and nodded, getting his coat out of his bag. If he spread it out completely, it was almost like a blanket, and it was big enough to cover the both of then if they were side by side. Sherlock handed Zypher the red plush race car,

" here, you can use this as a pillow." he had taken off his own jumper and put it in his bag when they were far enough from the school, so he folded it and used that as a pillow. Sherlock was focusing on the raindrops that were plopping on the roof of the booth, when Zephyr's tiny, tired voice called him.

" Henri?" Zypher yawned and turned to face Sherlock.

"hmm?" Sherlock replied, drowsily.

" I'm happy I have you as a friend." he said and rolled back over. Sherlock smiled to himself and doped into sleep. Dreaming of his stuffed monkey.

John was with a patient when a nurse knocked on the door.

"In" he said simply, to let her know that he was busy.

" ummm, it's from Henri's school, Doctor Watson, you might want to take this. John froze and uttered a halfhearted "pardon" before opening the door and taking the phone from the nurse.

" Hello?" he said into the phone, hoping it was just some kind of call to inform him of how smart Sherlock was, but some where inside his brain told him that wasn't the case.

"Is this Doctor Watson?" a stiff voice said from the other end.

"Yes, it is. Is there anything wrong?" he gulped, ready for the worst.

"Yes, I'm afraid so, your child and another boy have disappeared from the school premiss. They went out for recreation and never came back in. I need you to come to the school immediately." John's heart dropped into his stomach, and he said good bye to the headmaster and finished off with his patient.

" I um, I have to go." John said the head receptionist. She stared at him rudely and popped her gum.

" and why is that? Your shift's not over until seven." yes, he knew this but this woman didn't seem to care.

"Henri, has disappeared off campus, actually." the receptionist's eyes widened.

" you have a son?" John huffed and took the punch card she had handed him and signed it.

" yes I guess I do." he said, and he rushed out of the clinic, into a taxi and headed for the school. When he arrived the Headmaster told him all the details and said he had called to police.

"this boy of yours, he reminds me an awful lot of a boy I had in my first year of headmaster here." he said sternly. The man looked to sixty years old, but in good shape.

" he was always running about, and causing a huge mess for me to clear up with the board, he even nearly set the high school chem lab on fire. Twice." the man smiled for a moment and sat down at his desk, clasping his hands together.

"do you know what that boys name was" John fumbled with a loose string on his sleeve.

"no" he didn't want to hear it either, but he know the headmaster would tell him anyway.

"Sherlock Holmes."

Sherlock was awakened late into the night by a police man rapping on the booth door.

" ey'! You two! Wake up!" Zephyr woke with a start and stared in alarmed at the cop. The put all their things in Sheetrock's bag and opened the door. The cop looked down at a phone in his hands.

"you Henri Watson?" he asked Sherlock.

" yes, sir I am." he said shortly, a bit grumpy from lac of sleep. The officer turned to Zypher.

" You Zephyr Fries?" Zephyr nodded and shuffled closer to Sherlock. The cop smiled and put a hand on each of their backs, escorting them to his car.

" Come on you two, we have had team looking all over for you." The boy got into the car, but not before Zephyr said in a ghost of a voice,

"are they gonna lock us up?" Sherlock shook his head.

"No, they will probably take us to the station, do a medical check up and then let our ermm...parental figures take us home." Sherlock stretched out against the seat, happy to have a bit more room.

"Medical check up" Zephyr said, his hands resting on his injured front.

" Yes, you might not get to go home, though. Maybe a police officer will let John take you home with us until they sort out your parents." Zypher covered his eyes with his hands,

"hope so, dad's gonna kill me for this."

* * *

**There you go! Happy Friday!Tell me what you think, this chapter might be a bit boring, sorry about that.**


	6. In and OUt of trouble

You have questions, I have answers!

First of all, the Headmaster is EXTREMELY important to the story, as well as this chapter because things will start to get a bit more interesting form here. I am rather new to this site and I don't really know how it works...I'm learning as I got though! Thanks for the Reviews and keep em' coming!

* * *

John felt like the walls were closing in on him. How had he made this stupid mistake? How had Sherlock not caught it? What the HELL was going on? The headmaster stood, and started to pace around his office.

"You know, there was a recent, pinch in the fabric of time..a fluxuation if you will." the man paused and looked at John with dark, beady eyes that made his skin crawl.

" An event such as this can reverse the aging process..or maybe speed it up. Maybe both spontaneously!" John was sure this was bad news, he didn't know why the man was so..giggly..

"um, I really have to go now, I have got to find the boys." a pang of urgency told him to go. Get out. His mind was screaming warnings. He got up calmly though, no matter how badly he wanted to just burst out of the offices door.

"Oh, and Doctor Watson," the Headmaster stopped and took an apple off his desk." can you swim?" the question was odd, yes but John answered it all the same.

"Yes, of course. Why?" he seemed to be asking that question a lot lately.

" no reason, good bye." While John was walking out of the school building, a high pitched beep from his phone alerted him to a text.

**Look what I found.**

-**GL**

John felt a heavy weight lift off his shoulders as the picture message from Lestrade popped up. Sherlock and Zephyr were sitting on a desk, soggy and tired looking.

* * *

John walked into the office in the middle of a conversation

" Sally! I can't believe you! You don't call a seven-year-old a freak!" John thought this a bit amusing, so he waited a moment before letting his presence be known.

"He's not a seven-year-old! And even if he was he would still be a freak." Wow. Was sally really that mean?

" John!" Sherlock had some how figured out he was there. How, John had absoulutely no idea, because the door to the office was closed.

" Henri!" he heard Lestrade's voice from inside as the door swung open to reveal a fuzzy headed Sherlock, grinning from ear to ear. John was overwhelmed with relief, he scooped Sherlock up and gave hum a hug, putting him down and following him into The office.

" Hi Mr. Watson!" Zypher said, smiling and waving. John went to give him a hug too, but the boy shrunk back, nearly cowering.

"whats wrong?" John asked, worried.

"nothing." Zypher said looking away.

" Oh! Don't you start this again!" Sherlock huffed and pulled up Zephyr's shirt before he even knew what was going on, revealing the slash marks.

"Oh my God." sally said looking at the mess the was Zephyr's upper body.

"did freak do this to you?" Sherlock stomped his foot, and his face pinched up. He was trying to keep himself from crying.

"I would NEVER do that to my best friend!" he shouted thumbing himself in the chest. The tears started to fall over both boys cheeks. The day had been to much for them.

"Zephyr, I have one question." Lestrade said, handing the boy a tissue.

" Who are your parents?" Zypher looked at him. Horrified.

"I'm not allowed to tell you." he said in a very small, very scared voice.

"Why?"

"Because they'll kill me."


	7. Your Not Sherlock Holmes!

Okay, Now there are two questions. Who exactly is the head master? There is an Easter Egg in the last chapter's title. If you can find it, it will give you a hint to who the Headmaster is! Thanks for all the reviews keep them coming! Oh! And also! I was wondering if anyone is willing to help me by checking the grammar on chapters before I post them. I will give you credit for editing, Thanks! Back to our story!

" So they hit you?" John said frustratedly. He was angry with Sherlock for not waiting for school to be out to go off like this. But then again, thinking of the headmaster, John would have run off too.

" yes, but it's because of their Boss. I hear them talking about him all the time when I'm supposed to be in bed." Zypher said, as another police woman was wrapping gauze around his chest and stomach.

" So their boss tell them to hit you?" Zephyr shook his head vigorously.

" No, they hit me because if I get in trouble, they get in trouble with their Boss. Mum always yells at dad when he hits me in the face because the boss is always watching." Zephyr seemed so indifferent about the situation by then it was hard to tell the boy was scared.

" And do you know their bosses name?" this was the big question, the important one. If John could figure out who is controlling these people, he could possibly figure out what exactly id going on. Oh how he missed Sherlock's usual superior attitude.

"It's Moriarty, what ever that means. When I asked mum she said it was a kind of pasta"

John straightened up and turned to Lestrade.

"Well, only if we knew why Moriarty was controlling them we could get to the end of this." John took Sherlock by the hand and started to head for the door.

"Until then I don't suggest either of you boys go to school...maybe zephyr can stay with us?" Lestrade nodded and picked up the phone.

"ill try and get a hold of child services and ill send an officer over to tell them their son isn't coming home." and with that, the three walked out of the door.

It had bee three weeks since the boys had gotten lost. Zephyr's parents didn't know he was with John, which was probably the best for him. But something else worried John. Sherlock had begun to grow, not only grow, but mature. It was a Thursday night when he had gone to bed a seven year old, and woken up at about the age of twelve.

"I think the effects of the fluxuation are wearing off" John said one morning as Sherlock drifted into the room.

"You have observed correctly." he said stiffly, then looking behind him making sure Zephyr was still asleep he added

"or there has been another one within the proximity of a twenty mile radius." he went and sat down in his chair, pulling his legs into a crossed position.

"It won't take long for me to be normal again." he said somewhat sadly, then he looked up and towards his room.

"I need to talk to Zephyr."

"Sherlock, I don't thin-" John tried to protest, but the door to Sherlock's room was slamming before he could finish his sentence.

"Zeph," Sherlock whispered, shaking the boy's shoulder. Zephyr rolled over sleepily and yawned.

" morning, Henri." Sherlock sighed

" No don't call me that anymore." Zephyr raised his eyebrows.

"Why? That's your name isn't it?" Sherlock shook his head.

" My name is Sherlock Holmes." Zephyr laughed, likely thinking it was a joke.

"No it's not silly! Sherlock is a grown up who helps the police solve mysteries!" Sherlock scoffed,

" no, I'm a consulting detective. And it's true I really am Sherlock Holmes." by the look in zephyr's eyes Sherlock could tell the information was sinking in.

" But how?" Zephyr's voiced quivered, close to cracking.

" I was doing an experiment with time, I accidentally did something wrong and it reversed my aging, but I found a second fluxuation recently, and now I'm starting to grow and mature at an alarming rate, soon I will be thirty-seven again." Zephyr's bottom lip was jutting out now, and his eyes were filling with tears.

" does that mean we wont be friends anymore?" Sherlock took a deep breath once again. By time he was fully re-adapted, Zephyr wold have be relocated with a foster family.

" we can still be friends, but I wont see you as much. You will be living with a new family, they will love you and feed you and treat you like their own son." Sherlock was getting upset looking into Zephyrs sad eyes. It was like he had let the boy down. Again.

"I don't want to live with another family! I want to live with you! Your the only person who likes me!" Zypher threw himself into sherlcok's arms.

" I don't want you to leave me. Your my only friend." and that was it. The last string in Sherlock's heart had been cut and a flood of emotion washed through his brain. He hugged Zephyr tightly and let his own tears fall, he didn't want to change either. He was actually for once in his life, entirely happy. And now it was being taken away from him. Slowly. Day by day.

The Headmaster and The Boss stood around a table full of chemicals of this and that.

" How are we going to get it to the child?" the Boss asked, his face was shrouded in the shadow of the moon lit office, "we can't kill him off by food anymore." The headmaster turned side to side in his desk chair.

" don't make me take you as a fool, sir. A fool is one thing I know you are not. We will take the child and keep him here. Lure Holmes in. Then we will will kill him. Slowly. We will make Holmes watch and then destroy the evidence to make the media believe he is insane." the Headmaster grins, reveling in his plot.

"But why, Headmaster?" the man began to step forward but the Headmaster pulled out a gun, pointing it at the man's chest.

"Why?" he said in a mock confused voice. "because this is the first step in destroying Sherlock Holmes."

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**Sorry this one was so short, i don't have much time on Sundays or Saturdays to do much, but here is what i could do. **

**Here is my Tumblr if you are interested! **


	8. The Boy in the Box

Hey guys! I am sad to announce that there are only about two or three chapters of out story left. I just want to say thanks for all the encouragement, and thanks for making my first real experience with Sherlock Fan-fiction a good one!

As the days wore on, John noticed changes in Sherlock. His sweet nature was slowly depleting, soon leaving nothing but a piercing cold stare. He grew taller and thinner, and he ate less and less.

"Sherlock," John said on day while Zephyr was at school. "Ho wold do you suppose you are now?" he looked to be fourteen or fifteen at the least.

" I've figured sixteen," he said picking at a piece of toast. John was worried about the accelerated rate at which he was growing. At night when the house is quiet he can hear Sherlock groaning in pain, undoubtedly form the growth plates in his joints. An even bigger fear of John's were his organs. If Sherlock's organs grew faster than he did, it would kill him, and vise versa.

"oh, well...you do need to eat that, or at least take a few bites. With the way you are-"

"I do what I want, John." Sherlock snapped, glowering up at him. John was shocked. It had been a mutual agreement of theirs that John was to give instructions, and Sherlock was to follow them.

"Excuse me?" John asked, in exasperation. Sherlock's lips formed a straight white line.

"I don't think I stuttered, John." so this was a teenage Sherlock Holmes.

"Sherlock, you are to do as I say as long as you are a minor." Sherlock actually laughed. It was a cold, mean laugh.

"And I suppose you think I'm going to let an idiot like your self list orders to me?" John was beginning to get quite angry with him, he could feel his face reddening and his body was flushed with heat.

"watch your tone with me, do you understand?" Sherlock shrunk back in his chair, trembling in mock fear.

"Oh, I am so fearful of your push over attitude and empty threats." Before John knew it he was on his feet, his fist collided with the table making a loud thump.

"Sherlock Holmes! You will stop mouthing off to me this instant! I am in charge, and your sociopath ass needs to put it self in line! Do you understand?" Sherlock looked at john with actual fear in his eyes. He just sat there. Mute.

"I said, do you understand!?" John's voice was deafeningly loud, his face was a tomato red and a vein on the side of his head was throbbing.

"Yes." Sherlock practically spit.

"Yes what?" John said in a cold, serious voice.

"Yes sir." Sherlock got up from his chair and walked slowly to his room.

"I hate you, John." he said just before slamming his door and locking it. John sat back in his chair. He had gone too far. His throat ached from yelling, and the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach made him wan to vomit. John put his hot head in his hands replaying the last words Sherlock had just spoken to him.

"_I hate you, John"_

"Zephyr?" Zephyr looked up from the picture he was coloring. It was of him, John ans Sherlock.

"Yes?" he answered his teacher in a polite tone, though he didn't really want to talk to anyone at the moment.

"Where is your friend Henri? I haven't seen him in a long time." Zephyr stretched, trying to contain his panic as he lied cool y.

"Oh, Henri mover away the week after the time in the lunch hall." He picked his crayon up again and started to think of Sherlock. He was beginning to look more and more like a big kid, and he seemed to have less and less time to play with Zephyr. He was always reading big books of doing experiments in the kitchen with bad chemicals Zephyr wasn't allowed to touch. He was drifting further and further away from Zephyr. He didn't notice until he looked down again, that he had been scratching out Sherlcok's head with a blue crayon. He quickly crumpled the paper and started over.

"don't worry, Sherlock." he whispered to himself "you will always be my best friend, even if I'm not yours." He started to draw a picture of him and Sherlock sitting in his hiding spot. When he had finished he sat back to look at his work. He longed for the friendship that the waxy figures shared, forever on his paper.

I was some time after a snack of juice and crackers that zephyr had to use the bathroom.

"Miss?" he called to the teacher. "may I use the restroom?" the teacher nodded, not looking away from her grades and pointed to the pass. Once the boy left the room, she pulled up and email box.

_To: Headmaster_

_Subject: The Boy_

_Message: The boy has just left to the toilets as you have said. He is in the left wing._

She hit send and closed out the message box, returning to her grade book.

As Zephyr walked back from the toilets, he saw a man dressed din a black suit opposite him in the hall. He lowered his head, trying to avoid any awkward eye contact.

"Excuse me, young man?" Zephyr looked up to see a kind face.

"yes Sir?" the man knelt down to Zephyr's level.

"Do you think you could show me the way to the Headmaster's office? I'm a bit bad with directions." A cold smile played across the man's face as he lunged at Zephyr with a whit cloth, forcing it over his mouth and nose, he struggled to breath until a warm, sleepy feeling plagued his body, and he was out cold. The man drew him up into his arms and carried him the Headmaster's office. Once he reached the door, he tapped it with his foot.

"Enter" came a bored, drawling voice. The Boss entered and saw the Headmaster staring lazily out the window, his back turned to him.

"I assume you have the boy?" The man didn't turn to face him.

"yes sir, I do. Where should I put him?" The headmaster got up and went to his book shelf. He took out ta book with a light green spine and opened it to reveal a key pad. He punched in four numbers, and a small, cubic chamber about four by four feet opened.

"In there." the man quickly deposited the boy into the chamber and stood back as the door swung shut. The book case looked normal. No one would ever expect a seven – year- old child was concealed inside.

John looked at the clock. Zephyr should have been home twenty minutes ago._ "his bus is probably late" _he thought to himself, finding comfort in that thought. Sherlock had only been out of his room twice to use the bathroom and to get a glass of water. Both times he had not acknowledged John's existence. He felt bad for shouting, but he also knew there had to be rules. Even though Sherlock was at this point and on, massively smarter then he was, some guidance was still needed. It took a long time, but John finally decided to go and talk to Sherlock. He started composing what he was to say in his head. He walked down the hall to the door and knocked lightly.

" Sherlock?" he heard heavy foot steps and the door opened a small crack, revealing only a piercing, translucent eye.

"What do you want." John felt as though that single eye was going to suddenly shoot laser beams.

"I want to apologize for earlier, I shouldn't have yelled." Sherlock's door opened a bit more to show his still sleep roughed body.

"Oh, It's fine" he said, just short of sarcastically. John suddenly wanted to be as far away from Sherlock as he could get.

"well, I'm going out for milk and breakfast cereal." John made up a quick excuse to leave. "don't make a mess of the flat while I'm gone, understood.?" Sherlock smirked rudely, extending his middle finger and raising it to his brow in a salute.

"Sir yes sir." he said, rather coldly, but John had already turned his back, refusing to let Sherlock push him to bursting point once again.


	9. Worm on a Hook

**Hey! Next chapter is the last one! I'm not sure if there will ab an afterward or not. It all depends on how I write out the final chapter. Sorry about this chapter though, I think it's a bit weak. Tell me if you agree so I can make changes. Thanks for reviews! Keep them coming!**

When Zephyr's eyes oped, he was in a cold metal box. Fear plucked his nerves as his brain woke from its sedated sate. He coughed once or twice to clear his throat, which felt like it had been coated with thick, dripping honey. Panic blossomed in his brain, searing into his limbs. He wanted to scream. He wanted to kick and strike the box with all his might. He suddenly became aware of voices. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, a technique Sherlock had taught him. He remembered watching Sherlock at the wall by Mr. Watson's door as he was on the phone. His ear pressed to the surface, his eyes closed tightly.

"Why do you close your eyes?" He had whispered out of pure curiosity. Sherlock had put one slender finger to his lips as they tip toed down the stairs and into the lounge.

"Its so I can think, so I can cut off all other distractions and put all my immediate focus on the conversation at hand." So Zephyr closed his eyes and listened acutely to the conversation of the two men.

" Are you sure Holmes will show? I never wanted to do this in the first plac-" The first voice was interrupted by the second.

"Of course he will." The second voice sounded familiar.

"And what of Watson? He will have the police on us before we can even blink."

"I have arranged for a Korean assassin to meet him at his flat. It will all be taken care of in good time." Zephyr finally realized what was going on. He was bate. They were trying to get Sherlock out of the flat, to lure him into the teeth of their deadly trap. Zephyr quickly pulled out the old phone of John's from the inside pocket of his blazer, he had been given the phone for emergencies only.

**Help. Careful. Bait.**

Zephyr punched the first words that his jumbled and confused brain had to offer. He was lucky enough to his send before he heard a man speak again.

"Oh, look who's up!" there was a cold laugh and the bleeps of buttons being pressed.

"I hope you didn't sleep too well, because you are going to have to go back to bed," the voice was eerie and sent shivers down Zephyr's spine.

" Nighty-Night" Zephyr looked around in horror as a white mist seeped into the box through cracks between panels. It burned his eyes, nose and mouth. He was coughing, and soon coughing so hard that little flecks of blood and saliva were being splattered across the reflective wall of the box. The force of his his lungs burst blood vessels in his eyes and face as his body rebuked the poison, and his lips were turning blue from lack of oxygen. His breathing was spastic and gasping. When the mist finally stopped drifting into his box, he was already unconscious, dangerously close to tripping the line that was death.

Sherlock sat on top of his bed head board, puffing on a cigarette. He didn't like the way the cigarette made his mouth feel like sand paper, but he knew if would bother John. For some reason, Sherlock felt compelled to annoy and anger John to the ends of the earth, and since he had nothing better to do, what the hell? He got up to get a book on quantum Thought just as his phone vibrated on the desk across the room._ " must be John wondering if I have burned down the flat yet."_ So when Zephyr's name popped up under the little envelope, he did a double take.

** .Bait.** He read the message once and dropped the phone, rushing to his sock drawer, he pulled out a hand gun. He put his coat on and put the gun in the inside pocket. John would hate him for this, but it had to be done. He rushed out the door of 221b, narrowly avoiding Misses. Hudson. He jumped into a cab, hardly noticing he still had his bed clothes on.

Sherlock knew instantly where to go. He burst out of the cab and into the school. He ran all the way to the headmaster's office. Slamming his way into the room, the two men at the desk looked up.

"oh, so rude in adolescence, don't you think?" the headmaster looked to his side at the man next to him, who didn't comment. Sherlock raised the gun and pointed it at the man's chest.

" Where is Zephyr?" he asked, in a hot rage. The Headmaster merely laughed and stared at Sherlock.

" Does this scene feel similar to you? Does it strike a chord?" Sherlock stared at the man blankly until his suspicions were confirmed when the Headmaster pulled out his phone and played _Staying Alive_.

"Moriarty." Sherlock sneered and stepped closer, clicking the gun out of safety.

"You wont'" Moriarty stood and started to circle Sherlock.

" How could you not think that someone would notice the little disruption you caused? Hmm? How could you not think it would effect anyone else? You see, Holmes, time I a tricky subject to manipulate. It's ruled by thought and idea. So what do you think would happen if I was thinking intently about you at the time of disruption?" Moriarty stopped walking and stood annoyingly close to Sherlock.

" You would be affected telepathically." Sherlock breath his response, amazed and fed up with all the small talk. A plan formulated in his brain, it stewed and projected inside his head, play by play as he mapped out every single detail.

" Oh, and." he shot the gun pointing it down at Moriarty's foot. " who ever said I wouldn't?" He walked over and pointed the gun at Moriarti's other foot. " .He?" Moriarty was still an old, rather fragile man. Two gunshot wounds in the foot could very well be the end of him.

" Get me the book." he growled, breathing rapidly, his eyes full of hate. Sherlock handed him the book with the light green spine. He opened it and put in a code and the door to the book case adjacent to them swung open, and Zephyr's unconscious form slumped out limply, a tiny trickle of blood snaked from the corner of his mouth down to his chin. His face looked as if he had thousands of red lines cracking across the cheeks and forehand. His lips were blue and his eyes were full of blood. _Nearly all of the blood vessels in your face are broken, you lips are blue indicating there was some suffocation, but not bruises around your neck so that rules out strangulation. Heart is beating faintly an spasticly, so that suggests aerial toxins that you have recently processed in the place of oxygen, explainingg the suffocation. The toxins are still in the respiratory system judging by how staggered your breathing is. You need a Hospital now._

Sherlock started to gather Zephyr in his arms turning just in time to see the other man jump out the window.

" hm, it looks like you accomplice took the easy way out." Sherlock set Zephyr down only to lift a side of the heavy desk onto the old Moriarty's chest.

" You know" the man wheezed " I will win. I will always win. I am the future being of myself. I know what happens." Sherlock scoffed not for one second believing the old scumbag.

" yeah, don't waste your breath old man, seems to me like you might need every last bit of oxygen you can get if you are going to last through the rest of the night. With that, Sherlock took the small, nearly lifeless boy into his arms, and ram outside the school, where he called an ambulance.

" You have got to help me, he's hardly breathing. I think it was aerial Nero toxins. I don't know how it will effect him. You must hurry!" he spewed their location and hung up the phone, arranging Zephyr's body his back. He was in the ambulance, riding to the hospital when his mind finally drifted on John, not knowing the man's fate of course, not knowing he was standing with his back the door of their flat. A gun pointed at his chest. Sherlock Holmes didn't even know when the trigger to the gun had been pulled, or that a man was now laying dead, just inside the door of 221b.


	10. Forgotten

John jammed the key into the lock of 221b. He wasn't aware of what he would find on the other side, no. He wasn't thinking of anything but putting the heavy groceries down. He opened the door and trudged up the stairs, calling for Sherlock to help him put the food away. The flat was eerily quiet.

"Sherlock!" he yelled, only to be greeted by a man who definitely not Sherlock.

"You will not here find boy" said the heavy foreign accent behind a black mask and clothes. He had a small, long barreled gun in his left hand, and John could see the safety was not on.

"Where is he then? Where is Sherlock?" John was nervous, but not scared. He was scared yes, for his friend and Zephyr, but he would not show fear to the man who was attempting to take his life.

"You will not find him. He dead." the man had backed John to the edge of the staircase, by then. Thrusting the gun in between John's eyes so they crossed, the man advanced even more, nearly making John lose his balance.

"And you will be to." the man took a hand of hid gun to make a slit throat gesture, and that is when John took his advantage. Kicking the man in the knees, he stepped several paces forward to get away from the edge of the stairs. He kicked the man again in the head and took the gun from his hands.

"What have you done to him?" John raised the gun to the man's head, pushing him to the stairs just as he had done to him.

"I know not where the boy is." the man said quietly. "if you let me leave with my life you will be re-payed in an honorable fashion." John looked grimly at the man's cheating face before pulling the trigger, the force of the gun knocking him clear off his feet.

"Yeah, sure." he said to the man who was slumped, dead, against the door.

"Sherlock! Are you here?" he called, feeling foolish talking to an empty house. Running to Sherlock room he burst open the door, only to step on his phone.

"What?" he puffed at the adrenaline pulsed through his veins. He picked up the phone and read the last text that had been revived. It was from Zephyr.

** .Bait**

"Oh god." he breathed, he had no way of knowing where Sherlock was, of if he was even alive. He went back to the lounge and sat a moment, then his phone rang.

"Hello?" he said tiredly

"John, you need to come to the hospital..."

"We need a parent or guardian's consent to admit him, sir" three doctors were standing in front of Sherlock, who had his arms crossed in aggravation.

"Well, can you at least stabilize him first? You bloody idiots, he's dieing!" one of the nurses handed him a corded phone.

"Here, call someone, and then we can admit him and start immediate treatment." Sherlock snatched the phone from the woman's hands and dialed the numbers quickly. He put the phone up to his ear impatiently.

"Hello?" came a familiar, tired voice from the other end of the line.

"" John, you need to come to the hospital." Sherlock said quickly into the reviver.

"What why? What happened?" Johns words were rushed as he stepped around the dead man at the door.

"Moriarty tried to kill zephyr to get to me, I got there nearly in time, they wont check him in unless I talk to you." Sherlock glared at the Doctors who were finally starting to lift Zephyr onto a stretcher.

"Ill get there soon, Sherlock. Don't tell anybody how to do their job while I'm not there. People don't like that." Sherlock scoffed.

"Am I really that predictable John?"

"No, you are in no way predictable, I just know that is the kind of thing you like to do, now ill talk to you in a moment." Sherlock sighed.

"Fine, I'll be here waiting."

"There is some brain damage, parts of his brain were shutting down due to lack of oxygen. There are things he's going to need to relearn, like taking. We don't' know enough about the drug he was effected with to have any reliable results to test if he will have issues with memory and motor skills, but we are trying everything we can." It had been nearly three day's since Sherlock had met John in the lobby of the hospital, jumpy and anxious from the lack of nicotine. He was older, yes much older.

"I just can't believe it." John said one morning, stiffly holding his neck after spending the night in a hospital recliner. "How can you go from sixteen to twenty four in only three days? Its unhealthy." Sherlock was back to his mostly normal self again. Mood swings and an inferior attitude.

"I have explained this to you countless times John, and I am not about to do it again." He sat in the recliner on the opposite end of the room. He obviously hadn't slept at all.

"well," John said, standing and stretching out his back, digging in his pocket for some loose change.

"I'm going to get some coffee, want any?" Sherlock didn't answer for a moment and just stared at the ceiling.

"Please, thank you" he rubbed his eyes and waked over the Zephyr. John saw Sherlock check if he was in the room, so he quickly stepped around the corner to listen in.

"I know that when in a comatose state, the victim can still hear and understand word spoken to them." Sherlock began, sighing and sitting on the side of the bed. "I know what the drug was intended to do. I was meant to cause spasms in the cerebrum, causing you to lose your memory." John wondered why Sherlock hadn't told the doctors this yet, but figured there was a reason. "so, oh do understand that I have never been very successful about communication my emotions, but I just wan you to try. Try to remember me. I know you probably won't and it might be easier if you don't, but try. Let me be a selfish fool, just once." Sherlock sighed and backed away from the bedside. He sat back down in the recliner and his head fell into his hands. He wasn't crying. He was frustrated, angry and he wished he had killed Moriarty. John walked down and got the coffee and reentered the room. Sherlock had composed himself so well, it didn't even look as if anything had happened.

"here." john said passing Sherlock a steaming paper cup. He took it and set it down on the small table next to him.

"John." Sherlock looked up at John in a way he had learned to fear since Baskerville. This was his 'experiment face'.

"What?" He eyed Sherlock carefully and set his coffee down. You can never be too careful.

"Would you have thought me a murder if I had killed Moriarty? Just ended this whole stupid and pointless game then and there, I could have done it. I could have ended it..." He trailed off into his own thoughts.

"Well, no I could never think you a murder, really, B but you did the right thing. My dad used to say "A true man never takes another man's weakness to his advantage"" John nearly smiled at Sherlcok's skeptical look.

"Okay fine, it was on a fortune cookie, but still..you understand the point I'm trying to make." Sherlock nodded and closed his eyes, wondering back into the dense jungle of tangled vines that were his thoughts.

John couldn't remember when he had dozed off, but he was woken from a nap bay an alarming sound coming from one of the machines next to zephyrs bed. John got up and read the brain monitor. It was registering conscious. He turned to see dazed green eyes.

"hello, how are you feeling Zephyr?" the boy opened his mouth but nothing came out. John took the small, moist sponge form the bed side table and laid swiped the child's mouth and lips.

"I feel sore." he said in a horse rattly voice. Sherlock walked in mid sentence and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hello, Zephyr. It's nice to see you conscious." the boy looked at the two of them, seemingly confused.

"Are you nurses?" Sherlock's face took on a look of hurt, then it was gone. There was no emotion.

"no, we...we were just here to check up. Well be going now. Ill ring your doctor." Sherlock hurried out of the room, John on his heels.

"Your not staying with him" John felt stupid for pointing out the obvious.

"No, it's not needed." Sherlock felt this was a good explanation. He pulled on his coat and walked quickly out of the double doors. Secretly wishing he could be the one who has forgotten.

_**Afterward**_

**Zephyr sat on the steps of his house, his hands sticky with the juice of the Popsicle he was eating. The sun warmed hi hands as the cold liquid dripped and dripped from the end of the stick. He moved in with the Ponds soon after he had gotten out of the hospital, though he didn't remember much of his stay or what life was like before it, he was happy.**

" **He bud," his dad opened the door and sat next to him. He was wearing his hospital scrubs. His dad was the one who helped him with physical therapy. They had a great time together, joking and talking. When Rory found out he was a foster child, he was immediately interested in adopting him. **

" **Hey dad!" He said finishing off his Popsicle and wiping his hands on his pants.**

" **Enjoy that?" his dad said pointing to the empty wrapper in his hands. Zephyr nodded and grinned.**

" **Listen, I was wondering if you have had any more dream lately." Zephyr's grin dropped and was replaced by a look of utter seriousness. He had had some awfully strange dreams. Some were nightmares about a small box, and some were wonderful. He remember only bits, like a red fluffy car, and sitting in a tree looking out ton a playground, a dark curly hared boy next to him handing him a juice box.**

"**yes, but only the good ones." she smiled sweetly at his dad and went inside to wash up/**

"**If only you knew I haven't forgotten" he said sadly under his breath, "if only you knew."**

**Hey guys! Well, that's the end! Hope you enjoyed my little story, but don't be sad I have another story that I will soon be posting! Thanks for all the reviews and support!**


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